How to Move Back Into Your Apartment at the End of a Sublease
My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: Michigan
I have a lease on an apartment and needed to move out so I found some one to sublease my apartment in September of last year. Terms in the lease say the landlord needed to approve any subleases which he did. I need to move back in to the apartment and need to know what steps I need to take to get back into my apartment. I called the landlord and he is fine with me moving back in. In September, the landlord said all we (me and the people subleasing) needed to do was to write on the bottom of the lease that I agreed to sublease the apartment to the subleasors with both mine and their signatures and their initials on each page of the lease. Neither of us had ever sublet an apartment before so we followed his instructions. The plan was for the subleasors to sublease till December when he would cancel my lease and sign a new lease with them. I called in December to see if that had indeed happened and the landlord told me the subleasors were late with the rent a couple of times so he was not comfortable canceling my lease and signing with them. I need to know what my options at this point are. I understand there is probably a 30 day window I need to give them to move out but need to know what to do if they don't want to move.
Re: How to Move Back Into Your Apartment at the End of a Sublease
You appear to be stating that you found subtenants for your apartment, the landlord approved the sublease, and that your landlord was originally going to enter into a new lease with your subtenants in December but, due to their failure to pay their rent on time, is no longer willing to do so. The subtenants appear content to remain in the apartment.
You have not told us when your present lease term ends, or if your lease would renew or continue month-to-month based upon the presence of the subtenants at the end of its term. If the lease will soon end and will not renew or continue, then it may be that the best solution is to allow the subtenants to remain in occupancy until your lease expires -- at which time their presence becomes your landlord's problem. If the lease will not soon expire and you're worried that they're not going to pay rent, or if their presence will cause your lease to automatically renew or continue on a month-to-month basis, then it makes sense that you're concerned about getting them out (or convincing your landlord to change his mind about entering into a new lease with them).
I have no access to your lease agreement with your subtenants, so I have no way of determining if you leased to them for a fixed term (e.g., all remaining months of the lease) or if you leased to them on a month-to-month basis. If the former, their being late a couple of times on the rent, with your never having issued them a notice to quit for nonpayment, is not going to rise to the level of a material breach of the lease -- that is, it won't support an action to evict them. If they're month-to-month tenants, you can serve them with a thirty-day notice and, if they don't move within the notice period, you can file an action in court to evict them.